Toy sailing-craft.



C. M. VAN BUREN. TOY SAILING CRAFT. APPLICATION HLED NOV. 14', 19:1.

Patented Jfine 25, 1918.

2 SHEETS-*SHEET l.

C. M. VAN BUREN.

TOY SAILING CRAFT APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14, 191i.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented June 25, 1918.

CHARLES IVI. VAN BUREN, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

TOY SAILING-CRAFT.

-Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 25, rare.

Application filed November 14, 1917. Serial No. 202,036.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES .M. VAN BUREN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Sailing-Craft, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a toy sailing craft which may be readily converted for use either as a sail boat or a wind-propelled land or ice vehicle, will be of a substantial and durable construction and yet inexpensive to manufacture, and may be packed for shipment or similar purposes in small compass, and in any of its adaptations serve as an instructive and practical toy as well as a source of amusement. To this end my invention consists in a toy sailing craft including two principal members, to wit, a sail-rigged, preferably broadbeamed slab-like, body or hull member and a straight-course-maintaining member arranged below the hull member (being, in a sail-boat, the equivalent in function of a keel or center-board, and in a land or ice vehicle a structure equipped with a set of three or more'wheels or runners fixed in fore-and-aft Vertical planes), one of said members (preferably the hull member) having a longitudinal vertical slit and the other a longitudinal fin or tongue portion removably arranged in said slit. The invention further consists in certain details employed in combinations each of which is characterized by the two members specified above.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the sailrigged hull or body member;

Fig. 2 is a plan thereof, the rigging being removed;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the craft adapted as a sail-boat;

Fig. 4 shows the straight-course-maintaining member detached;

Fig. 5 is a plan and Fig. 6 a side elevation, partly in section, of the craft adapted as a land vehicle;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation and Fig. 8 a plan of the straight course maintaining member or gear to be employed when the craft is adapted as an ice vehicle; and

Fig. 9 is a stern view of the craft when adapted as a sail-boat.

The body or hull member a has the plan form of a boat and is preferably broadbeamed and of shallow depth, 2'. 6., it is substantially slab-shaped, so as to have little draft when afloat and bring the center of gravity of the craft as low as possible when used on land or ice, thereby to resist capsizing, and also make it adapted to be packed in convenient form for shipment and the like. It is here shown as equipped with a removable fore-and-aft rig, i. 0., with a mast b, boom 0 and gaft'd, main-sail e and jib f, with the proper halyards and sheets 9 and h; also with a rudder 2'.

The hull member a is formed with a central longitudinal slit j, which preferably penetrates the same and is best arranged approximately amid ship, abaft the mast.

The straight-course-maintaining member (referring, first, to Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 9) 'is a blade or plate 70, preferably of thin sheet metal having a fin or tongue portion Z at its upper art. This fin or tongue portion is adapte to be fitted into the slit j from be low, so that the blade depends from the hull member; and in the preferred construction the body portion of the plate is extends rearwardly of its fin-portion and afiords a straight top-edge m to bear against the bottom of the hull, while the fin protrudes upwardly through the hull and is provided with a removable transverse pin a which rests on the deck and insures against the plate dropping out of place.

A modification is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, where the rudder i has its post i stepped in a socket is formed by bending back an extension of the plate is and its upper end extending up through a hole in the hull when the tiller z',has been removed, the rudder as well as the plate is may be readily unshipped.

In Figs. 5 and 6, the straight-course-maintaining gear or member is a frame consisting of a longitudinal strip p and transverse strips 9 and r secured to the ends thereof, the transverse strips being equipped at their ends with wheels 8 and t, the strip 9 being appreciably longer than the strip 1". This frame is provided with an upstanding fin or tongue at, preferably of sheet metal, corresponding to the fin Z already described and adapted to be secured in the slit 7' in the same manner, the frame bearing against the botstrip 1; being equipped with runners 00. At its forward portion, the T-shaped frame thus formed is provided with an upstanding fin 3/ which is in every respect the counterpart of the fin Z or it already described, being adapted to be received and held in the slit 3' as described above.

The frame in either of the constructions shown in Figs. 5 and 6 or 7 and 8 extends rearwardly so as to trail with respect to the hull member, thereby to obtain an effective purchase against lateral slippage.

According as the craft is to be used on water, ice or other suitable surface, so the straight-course-maintaining member shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and 9, 5 and 6, and 7 and 8 is fitted to the, hull member.

My invention, while making it possible, according as water or ice or other smooth surface is available, to derive amusement and instruction in the art of trimming sail so as to make the craft sail in any given direction, provides a toy that is at once convertible for use on water, ice or a pavement or the like and as such is of a simple, durable and substantial nature and may be packed in limited compass upon removing the rigging and straight-course-maintaining gear from the hull or body member.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. A toy sailing craft including a sailrigged body or hull member and a straightc0urse-maintaining member, one of said members being arranged above the other and one having a longitudinal upright slit and the other a longitudinal upright fin portion removably arranged in said slit in rigid relation to the member having such slit.

2. A toy sailing craft including a sailrigged broad-beamed slab-like body or hullmember and a straight-col1rse-1naintaining member, one of said members being arranged above the other and one having a longitudinal upright slit and the other a longitudinal upright fin portion removably arranged in said slit in rigid relation to the member having such slit.

3. A toy sailing craft including a sailrigged body or hull member and a straightcourse-maintaining member, one of said members being arranged above the other and one having a longitudinal slit penetrating it and the other a longitudinal upright fin portion protruding through the slit and a removable pin penetrating the protruding portion of the fin and preventing withdrawal of the fin from said slit.

4. A toy sailing craft including a sailrigged body or hull member having a longitudinal upright slit, a depending plate having an upstanding fin portion removably arranged in said slit, and a rudder pivotally supported in the rear edge portion of said plate.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES M. VAN BUREN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0: Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

